Trump and Obama Clash as U.S. Considers Post-Midterm Strikes on Iran

[Anchor]

It has been reported that the United States is preparing to launch a fresh military strike against Iran following the upcoming midterm elections. Meanwhile, on the campaign trail, President Trump and former President Obama have collided in a fierce exchange of mutual criticism.

Our Washington correspondent, Jeon Byeong-nam, has the report.

[Reporter]

The U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, has reportedly drawn up plans to strike Iran after the U.S. midterm elections on November 3.

The U.S. political outlet The Hill reported that the White House has prepared a ready-to-execute plan to bomb Iran pending approval, which has also been briefed to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

However, a final decision has yet to be made by U.S. President Donald Trump.

[Donald Trump / U.S. President: We have highly sophisticated intelligence regarding Iran. Some of that has been declassified, and some has not yet been declassified.]

If the United States resumes attacks, there is a possibility it could target military and political facilities within mainland Iran or expand its scope to include energy infrastructure.

In fact, the U.S. military has been concentrating additional assets in the Middle East, including the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt.

This is interpreted as an intention to pressure Iran militarily and extract concessions, as diplomatic negotiations with Tehran have effectively stalled.

Iran has fired back, warning that even if a new war breaks out, its policy regarding the Strait of Hormuz will not change.

[Abbas Araghchi / Iranian Foreign Minister: Recently, some have raised the possibility of a new war. Whether a war happens again or not, there will be no change to our (Hormuz) policy.]

Amid these developments, former President Barack Obama campaigned for Democratic candidates by heavily criticizing President Trump's policies on the Iran war and inflation, slamming him as an "unprecedentedly incompetent president."

[Barack Obama / Former U.S. President: The president has made a series of bad decisions. Above all, he decided to launch an unnecessary war that nobody wanted and nobody voted for.]

In response, President Trump hit back, declaring that "Obama was a terribly incompetent president." With Trump already raising the prospect of refusing to accept defeat in battleground areas such as Alaska, political tensions surrounding the midterm elections are rapidly escalating.

(Video Taken by Park Eun-ha, Video Edited by Kim Jong-mi, Design by Shim Soo-hyun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.